Requiem for a Friend

Five years ago I returned from the dark side, leaving the PC fold to re-enter the Macintosh flock. My first Mac upon return was a 700mhz iBook g3. It was a fine computer, though a little slow. (I bought at the low-end of the spectrum — not the best idea under normal circumstances, and even a little less advisable with Macs.)

My little iBook was a good and faithful servant. It did develop a problem with its screen just outside the warranty, but I could work around that. For years, this site was maintained on the iBook.

With time, however, I got other Macs. My iBook took a backseat. I dragged it out under those rare circumstances in which I needed a backup laptop. But mostly it gathered dust.

Talking with Tiffany recently, she mentioned that her old PC laptop was on its last legs. “I’m thinking about getting a Mac,” she told me.

“I have a Mac!” I told her. “You can have it.” I was glad to have a new home for my little friend, the iBook.

On Friday night, I went over to Tiff’s and installed a spare wireless router I’d been saving. We got the iBook set up and ready to go. Things were good.

Today, though, Tiffany went to download the latest software updates and the computer froze. Macs don’t freeze. (Well, they do, but rarely, and not like this.) She turned the computer off and attempted to restart it with the power button. No luck. She called me and in a small voice said, “I broke your computer.”

Having worked with computers for over a decade, I found it unlikely that she’d broken anything. “Bring it over,” I said, and so she did.

I spent half an hour taking the thing apart, testing various pieces. No luck. My little iBook is well and truly dead. Poor little iBook. It was a good friend. Now, however, it’s destined for the computer graveyard…

J.D., have you considered taking it to the Apple Store near Lloyd Center? They may be able to repair your ibook. Whether or not its worth the cost is another story of course, but it couldn’t hurt to find out.

Let us know if you figure out what failed. Recently I’ve seen both hard drive failures and power supply issues. Generally there are some symptoms that let you know when and what happened. In most cases you can salvage data . . . but your friend probably didn’t have much on it yet.